The first Sunday of 2009 seemed a fitting day to take a sip from the cup of auld lang syne. So I headed for the First Universalist Church of Denver, the first church to get scoped out for How Coloradans Worship in August 1996.

For me, that was roughly 580 sermons ago, before there was a dot.com to bust, before 9/11 meant more than a phone emergency, before auld lang syne meant more than a song.

Back then, the Rev. Kirk Loadman-Copeland, senior minister, was heading a church in Pittsburgh. Music director John Hubert,(who, members say, is getting a national music reputation), was still a college kid in Missouri.

To appreciate the links between past and present, consider member Ruth Hellman. In 1996 she was working in the telecommunications business in Oklahoma. She moved to Colorado with her teenage daughter, Nora, and sought out a more stable career - by becoming a registered nurse. And Nora? She became a writer - and is working for a publication that recently sought bankruptcy protection.

Hellman's church search echoes the yearning of so many to find a spiritual home. In this case, Unitarian Universalist - UU for short - is a self-described "liberal religion," which emphasizes ethical living and seeking one's own truth. Raising a teenager, "I was looking for support and I found that. The church had a hopeful message. It was a place to come and recharge; it felt to me like a watering hole."

The former pastor, the Rev. Stephan Papa, hailed for his people skills, is now with the Boston headquarters of the Unitarian Universalist Association. (And he's reportedly back in March for a Denver church event.) Loadman-Copeland, who came from a marketing career, is hailed for his administrative chops. Since coming here seven years ago, membership is up 20 percent over the mid-1990s.

And oh, the people: Jack Pease, a grizzled, fun-seeking wire editor at the Rocky, was a member here. An accomplished foodie and cook, Pease, who died in 2008, was renowned for his chilis and stews. He loved the church. It loved him back.

"Jack was wonderful," Loadman-Copeland recalled. "He was so beloved. He loved to feed people, and he loved to eat!"

Like many churches, First Universalist rents out event space. On Halloween 1999, the Witches Ball transformed the church into a pagan crush of fairy sprites and demon spirits. Covering how those Coloradans worshiped was a delicious dip into Renaissance Fair-meets-Dante's Inferno.

On Jan. 17, the church holds its own ball, the UU Inaugural Ball. It's a youth fundraiser and, for a church of unabashed liberals, a Barack Obama fest. As for the long-term future, perhaps the only real certitude, for any of us, may be summed up in the pastor's words Sunday: "To be born and to live on this planet is a great and precious gift."